A little update. I am much more slim then I was in March. I am now down to 152lbs last I checked. My goal continues to still eat smarter and being active. Right now I am slowly upping the calories and even going back to eating things I enjoyed. Weekends I have a little cheat which are Buffalo Wings. I will never stop eating those and as long as they are not breaded. Right now the focus has been to gain some muscle and that should be more then lifting spools and cameras everyday. 20 minutes on the treadmill and the rest of the times on the weight machines. I am feeling some gains. I am finding I am lifting more then I thought I could each time. That is the motivation.

Been eating protein bars everyday now. Haven't tried the shakes yet. On the days I am not working out, I up the calories and protein a bit. Meaning I will eat alot of turkey and chicken. So far I think I have that under control. I still work out in the mornings. I find that doing that makes me feel good and that I can tackle any kind of day.

Summer is now over. What's everyone planning on doing to stay fit through the winter? Any goals besides maintenance?

I'm planning on getting to about 180 lbs with the same amount of bodyfat I currently have. Going to be hard to do through the cold months, but I think it's doable. Basically 1-2 lbs a month of muscle weight. We'll see

I haven't hit the gym since sometime before my cruise last month, unfortunately. When I got back I had a lot to catch up on at work, then it was announced a co-workers was leaving and I inherited 15 of her accounts, so I've been slammed - and going during my lunch breaks is when I'd go, but I've been working through them more often then not. I also came down with a cold last week, and am currently either still recovering or dealing with allergies. So I'm full of excuses and do need to go back. Just did my blood pressure at CVS - do some pre-hypertensions. I really need to try and implement some permanent changes, but "permanent" is a constant battle...

Bruz, those blood pressure machines at thw drugstore are not 100% accurate. That and blood pressure can vary throughout the day. I wouldn't worry too much, but ya, keep active is my only advice.

I am 145lbs. Still keeping the weight off. The focus now is gaining muscle. As for my diet, have almost completely avoided red meat. Been eating more turkey and chicken. Fast food is out of the question for the most part. However the occasional Chipotle, Subway and Dunkin breakfast sandwich is about as far as I go. Weekends is when I cheat. Back to drinking beer again, but not as much in quantities or in a week. Last blood test was better. Healthy cholesterol levels.

Workout routine unchanged. Up at 6am, treadmill, lift and repeat every other day. Dumped the protien bars and drinking protien shake after workout. Seeing some results.

Well - my previous goal of 180 has been met, and broken. About 195 right now... Still a lowish body fat percentage. Might ride this through the winter and slim down to 190 or so when it gets warmer out. Strength levels through the roof.

I couldn't do no breakfast on weekdays. Weekends for some reason I can be fine not eating til 1 or later, but I need something to get me through the morning that isn't coffee and a burning hatred for humanity.

of course part of my issue is I am in terrible shape and have a sloth's metabolism haha

but I think a lot of it goes back to when I worked nights for a while starting about 10 years ago

back then I actually WAS in good shape and needed to eat consistently to maintain energy (as one should), I just got wired to eat at night because that's when I was awake and even though I only did it for like a year and a half it never fully "corrected"

it's really fucked, during the week I rarely eat anything besides snacks (and sometimes not even that) until 7 or 8 pm and I've been like that for 10 years

just snack here and there during the day running on fumes, smash a good dinner, decompress and ass out for the night

Ended up on the Keto diet in November due to various dietary demands in our household. Quite weird at first. Basically you use fat as your fuel source not carbs. Macros wise I was at 80 fat 15 protein and 5 carbs. Beer is a no no as it will bring straight out of ketosis.
With exercise (mainly running) and a 12-6pm eating window I dropped 21lbs.
Can recommend ketogenic diet if you want to loose pounds. I wasn't looking to shed major fat but that formulae worked well for me. The concept of upping fat content and losing fat is weird

Loomis462 wrote:The ketogenic diet definitely works for weight (fat) loss. My issue came at a certain point you plateau on strength levels

Currently sitting at 196 lb. Once it warms up, my guess is that I'll naturally lean down to 190 without changing anything. We'll see.

Totally agree. For me fat loss just occurred as a by product of eating that way. Not sure if it would work for everyone as were all different. I've read people can take weeks to get into a state of ketosis.
Performance on a low/zero carb eating plan is definitely below par. I think it's the readily available energy from carbs I miss.
Have done Keto this month again just as I've always tended to do a dry January. Looking forward to gluten filled bacon sandwich and a pint for breakfast Thursday morning

So similar story to Barefoot - my LDL cholesterol is high. Not that surprising considering how I eat normally. Not always bad but I also don’t shy away from snacks/junk, Taco Bell, etc.

I think I mentioned in here that I was doing intermittent fasting, as well as 45 minutes of elliptical during lunch breaks at work (3x’s/week average). But that alone only had me maintain my weight, and I wasn’t changing my diet at all. I was doing it as an experiment in weight loss, and the elliptical for general heart health. It had nothing to do with the cholesterol issue.

Yesterday I read more about the cholesterol issue and what to do to fix it and got pissed at myself and decided it’s time for serious changes again, not half-assed short-term attempts like I’ve been doing.

Cutting saturated & trans fats to the best of my ability. That means cutting out dairy, chips, cookies, cakes, less red meat, etc...

Increasing my fiber intake. While fasting I was skipping breakfast. Now I’m back, with an even higher fiber cereal mix, with almond milk. Tasted good this morning, so no complaints there!

Cutting out the snacking. If I can’t eat junk food, what’s the point?

Instead lf elliptical during lunch I’m hitting the weights again, and now using the expensive elliptical I bought myself years ago again, after the kids go to bed. Had to dust it off and lube it up, but it still works great. I do it for the length of whatever show I’m watching on Netflix that my wife has no interest in watching with me anyway (currently it’s GLOW, based on the 80s female wrestling league ). Take a quick shower after then go downstairs to watch something with her (Altered Carbon ).

I also busted out my Fitbit again. Going for 10K steps/day again, to keep me serious and motivated.

Yesterday morning I was 231 and change.

This morning 229 and change.

Doing this because I want to take care of myself, but even more importantly in an effort to be around for my kids as long as possible.

I have no “weight goal”. I’m not stopping when I hit a certain number. This time it’s meant to be a permanent change.

That’s not to say I won’t ever eat a slice of pizza again. But this change and these habits have to be the priority more often than not.